Barmouth Monster
The Barmouth Monster is a serpentine sea monster spotted off the coast of Wales, mainly in and around the Menai Strait, a shallow piece of coastal water around twenty-five miles across which separates mainland Wales from the Isle of Anglesey. This sea monster has been spotted since as early as the 1800s. Description The monster has been described in many different ways; one description claims it is serpentine, while another claims it to be similar to that of a crocodile with footprints as large as that of an elephant. It is said to be 10 feet long and is possessed of skin like that of a dinosaur. Sightings * In 1805, near the Menai Straits, a ship reported an encounter with a large sea serpent. This serpent was reported to have wrapped itself on the ship's mast. The creature stayed there until the ship's crew attacked it. The serpent fell back into the water and reportedly stalked the ship for another two days before giving up and leaving. * Another sighting was recorded in 1882, according to this letter from Nature Magazine: About three P.M. on Sunday, September 3, 1882, a party of gentlemen and ladies were standing at the northern extremity of Llandudno pier, looking towards the open sea, when an unusual object was observed in the water near to the Little Orme's Head, travelling rapidly westwards towards the Great Orme. It appeared to be just outside the mouth of the bay, and would therefore be about a mile distant from the observers. It was watched for about two minutes, and in that interval it traversed about half the width of the bay, and then suddenly disappeared. The bay is two miles wide, and therefore the object, whatever it was, must have travelled at the rate of thirty miles an hour. It is estimated to have been fully as long as a large steamer, say two hundred feet; the rapidity of its motion was particularly remarked as being greater than that of any ordinary vessel. The colour appeared to be black, and the motion either corkscrew-like or snake-like, with vertical undulations. Three of the observers have since made sketches from memory, quite independently, of the impression left on their minds, and on comparing these sketches, which slightly varied, they have agreed to sanction the accompanying outline as representing as nearly as possible the object which they saw. The party consisted of W. Barfoot, J.P., of Leicester, F. J. Marlow, solicitor, of , Mrs. Marlow, and several others. They discard the theories of birds or porpoises as not accounting for this particular phenomenon. F. T. MOTT. Birstall Hill, , January 16th, 1883. * A woman claimed to have found four foot prints that were the size of an elephant's near the Mawddach Estuary at Barmouth. * In 1937 a crocodile-like animal was witnessed by a Harlech man as it walked along the river bank near the Mawddach Estuary at Barmouth. * In March of 1975 six school girls encountered a strange creature at Barmouth beach. "It had a long neck and a square face and a long tail with a flipper at the back and its skin was black and patchy’.. `It was like a dinosaur,'' said one of the girls. "The monster was about 10 feet long, with a long tail, long neck and huge green eyes. It walked towards the sea and entered the water.'' * And recently in January of 2016, Llanarth pensioner Mohammad Tahla snapped a photo of a 'monster-like shape' in the estuary of the River Aeron, 60 miles away from Barmouth. Explanation? * It could be a large seal. * A European eel. * An escaped crocodile. * A plesiosaur or tylosaur specie. * An unknown specie of fish. * A hoax created just to give folks a scare. Category:Oceanic Cryptids Category:Cryptid Wiki Category:Cryptids Category:Aquatic-based Cryptid Category:Aquatic Serpents Category:Sea Serpents Category:Seals Category:Fish Category:Crocodilian Category:Plesiosaurs Category:European cryptids Category:Snakes Category:Living fossil Category:Reptile Category:Reptiles and Amphibians